The City of Grand Rapids Urban Agriculture Committee wants to know your thoughts about urban agriculture. Come to the market Saturday and let them know what you think. OKT’s executive director, Lisa Oliver-King is on the committee. Some questions that she and Our Kitchen Table is asking include:

Should zoning ordinances be changed to support urban farms? If they are, who should operate them? City residents and small, local farmers, or high-powered agricultural industrialists looking for investment opportunities?

Who should eat the food? Neighborhood residents with little access to healthy whole foods or the clientele of high-end restaurants?

How will urban ag projects will impact the neighborhoods where they operate? Will they support the existing residential community or hasten gentrification and higher housing costs?

“School gardens, urban farms, [and] composting and educational initiatives have tremendous potential for shaping a city’s fabric,” says Levi Gardner, Urban Ag committee chair. “Through this community engagement process, we hope to better understand how these initiatives and many others like them fit into our growing city. While we are benchmarking against other cities in this process; we are welcoming Grand Rapids residents to voice their ideas, questions, and concerns about this work.”

On Saturday Oct. 20, staff from Grand Rapids’ Planned Parenthood Irwin/Martin Health Center will table at the market, providing information about the full range of affordable services that they offer area residents with or without health insurance.

Did you know that in addition to helping with women’s healthcare and contraception, the health center offers general healthcare, HIV testing, LGBT services, men’s healthcare, pregnancy testing and services and more?

In addition, Planned Parenthood’s trained educators offer comprehensive sex education that helps youth and others learn about sex and sexuality, explore values and beliefs about those topics ,and gain the skills that help them make healthy choices despite bullying or peer pressure. Statistics have proventhat comprehensive sex education is more effective than abstinence only programs in reducing teen pregnancies, abortions and STD rates.

The Southeast Area Farmers’ Market is gearing up for its annual Greens Cook-off and Green Tomato Festival.

Chef Nancy LaVoie will honor us as our celebrity chef. Nancy serves as Director of Culinary Events at Thought Design Management Consultants. She has taken part in past our past cook-offs and contributed many delicious recipes to our Green Tomato Cookbook — even a cake! We are in the process of recruiting judges and community partners to take part in the event, as well.

Last year, first prize went to Andy Geelhoed for greens made in ham-bone broth. Andy won a $75 gift certificate to our market cake vendor. He plans on using it for his mother’s upcoming birthday. Alita Kelly won 2nd place prize, a $50 gift certificate for Country Life Natural Foods. Third place winner, Darlene Gibbons, won a gift certificate to LINC UP Soul Food Café for her super-healthy Kale and Collards.

To enter, simply bring your crock pot of greens or green tomato dish to the market by 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 3. We will provide plug-ins to keep crock pots warm. Prizes will be awarded no later than 2 p.m.

On Oct. 6, GRFD Residential Safety Program (RSP) will share resources at the market. The RSP is designed to reduce the number and severity of fires in Grand Rapids. The GRFD and our partners are offering free in home fire safety assessments, free smoke alarm upgrades and installations, one-on-one fire safety consultations specific to the residence and a connection with our partners to assist with fire safety issues

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A grass-roots, nonprofit organization serving the communities of greater Grand Rapids, Our Kitchen Table (OKT) seeks to promote social justice and serve as a vehicle that empowers our neighbors so that they can improve their health and environment, and the health and environment of their children, through information, community organizing and advocacy.

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